Monday, April 17, 2006

Pullman Loaf (Pain de Mie)

Monday, April 17, 2006
I know that I've become bread-crazed when the first thing I did when I got home from the airport--before even unpacking--was to start mixing up a loaf of bread. I was in Seattle, a city that has many wonderful artisan bakeries. In fact, I had a ham sandwich for lunch from Grand Central Bakery that was so perfect that I talked about it for days; eventually Jim had to put a ban on any further mention of the ham sandwich. Then we went to Chicago and stayed at the Sofitel, where we had a basket of breads and pastries every morning. Every time I ate a croissant or a baguette, I wanted to start baking.
So, when I got home from Chicago, I pulled out the pullman loaf pan I bought on E-bay (at half the cost of a new pan), and started putting together the bread. This must be the easiest loaf of bread so far. It's got a whole tablespoon of yeast in it, so it rises so enthusiastically you have to keep your eye on it lest it take over the kitchen. I don't know what happened--since I got my scale the doughs have been perfect. This one, however, was way too sticky and moist, but I just added more flour (a lot more flour) until it seemed right. (At least this time I had enough sense to realize it wasn't right and to fix it instead of blindly going forward, as with the infamous focaccia), and it ended up just fine--a perfectly lovely moist, soft, tender crumb with a sturdy, crunchy brown crust. This is still another bread that I wouldn't have made if I hadn't undertaken the 82-Loaf Vow. I've bought a pullman loaf from the store and a more boring loaf of bread I've never seen, but this buttery, fine-crumbed bread is not at all boring.